The purple fruit that becomes a prune when dried is the plum. Specifically, prunes are dried plums, most commonly from the European plum tree (Prunus domestica). Not all plums can be dried into prunes; prunes come from certain varieties of plums that have a high soluble solids content and do not ferment during drying. The drying process involves harvesting ripe plums, washing and sorting them, then dehydrating them in controlled conditions until they become prunes. This transformation gives the prune its characteristic texture and nutritional properties. In summary:
- The fresh fruit is a plum (purple in many cases).
- When dried, this plum becomes a prune.
- Prunes are typically from specific plum cultivars grown for drying purposes.
This explains why prunes are sometimes called "dried plums" in marketing to avoid the constipation-related stigma of the word "prune".
